[How To] Turn Off Windows Search In Windows 7

Windows Search has been modified and improved a lot since Windows Vista and is much better in the case of Windows 7. Windows Search is by default turned on all machines running Windows. If you prefer to use a third-party search application instead of Windows Search, you might want to disable the Windows Search so that it doesn’t interfere in the working of the third-party application. Read the following guide to learn how to turn off the Windows Search.

Windows search in start menu

Steps:

1. Open Control Panel from the link in the Start Menu.

Control panel link in start-menu

2. Click On “Programs” link on the Control Panel items.

Control Panel items

3. Click on “Turn Windows features on or off” link under “Programs and Features”.

Programs-control-panel

[You can also open the same by searching “Windows features” in the Start Menu and then by opening the “Windows Features”.]

4. Windows Features settings would now open up. Scroll down until you find “Windows Search”.

Windows-features-windows-search

Uncheck in the checkbox against “Windows Search” and you would be presented with a warning. Click Yes to continue.

Windows search turn off warning

5. Click “OK” button to apply the settings.

Windows search off

It may take several minutes for Windows to make changes to the Windows Features.

Windows-making-changes-wait-message

6. You need to restart your computer to see the changes in action.

Windows Restart to apply changes

When you see your computer after the reboot, you will find that all the search boxes in Windows are gone! There won’t be search boxes in the Start Menu, Windows Explorer, Control Panel and Libraries.

No search box in Start Menu

Windows Search box missing

If you want to turn the Windows Search feature on, just go back to the step 4 and check the “Windows Search” option to enable it again.

[Download] LaCie USB 3.0 Driver For Mac

Lacie

LaCie has released first ever USB 3.0 driver for Apple Mac , though which the Mac users can make use of the LaCie’s USB 3.0 hard drives and enjoy much better the data transfer rates. In fact, the USB 3.0 specification (known as SuperSpeed), is touted to be at least 10 times faster than the current USB 2.0 standard, offering data transfer rates up to 5 Gbps. Though the theoretical throughput of the USB 3.0 is 5 Gbps, that is hardly achievable and it is considered reasonable to achieve 3.2 Gbps speeds under normal circumstances.

Comparison Chart:

USB storage speeds comparison

LaCie, promises speeds up to 130MB/s for single hard drives and speeds up to 220 MB/s for dual hard drives. To add the USB 3.0 support to your Mac, you first need to download the LaCie USB 3.0 driver and you are supposed to buy LaCie’s PCIe or ExpressCard expansion cards (PCIe – $49.99 & ExpressCard – $59.99). For more information on the type of USB 3.0 cards your should use for your Mac, read LaCie support page.

Download LaCie USB 3.0 Driver for Mac

[Download] NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver 263.09 WHQL

nVIDIA forceware

nVIDIA has released a new WHQL-certified driver (nVIDIA ForceWare) for GeForce GTX 580 and GeForce GTX 460 SE. If you are a gamer and always look to improve the performance of games and graphics on your computer, you should update your nVIDIA hardware using nVIDIA ForceWare software:

Features:

* Enhanced 3D and video performance for all applications.

* Better compatibility, and reliability with nVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA).

* Robust product support

* Continual product performance and feature updates for the life of nVIDIA hardware.

The latest driver update will have the HD audio driver updated to 1.1.9.0 version, and the latest PhysX System Software 9.10.0514, and also includes support for DirectCompute, OpenCL 1.0 for Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs, support for OpenGL 4.1 for GeForce 400 and later GPUs, supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring through NVIDIA System Tools Software, support for various non-English operating systems.

Download:

nVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver 263.09 For Windows 7 & Vista [128 MB]

nVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver 263.09 For Windows XP [84 MB]

Official Google Reader Android App

google reader

Official Google Reader app for Android is now available in the Android Market. The Android supports all the basic features that you would expect it to have like count of unread items, sharing, liking, starring etc. In addition to these, the app also has options to use multiple accounts, setting synchronization preferences, full subscriptions features and even searching the subscriptions feature.

Google Reader Android Screenshot

And of course, Google as always, included few surprise features additional features along with the app  like volume-key navigation, easy unsubscribe, rename subscriptions by long-pressing on a folder or subscription etc. Just enable the Volume-key navigation in the settings and you can quickly go through the feeds using volume key to go to next and previous items (similar to “j” and “k” shortcuts in the desktop version).

Scan the following QR code to go the to the app link in the Android Market and install it.

Google Reader Android App QR Code

[Via] Google Reader blog

[Download] WordPress 3.0.2

wordpress logo

WordPress 3.0.2 is now available as a mandatory security update for all the earlier versions of WordPress.

WordPress 3.0.2 release fixes a moderate security issue identified in WordPress that could allow a author-level user to gain access to some administrator related features of the site. The update also fixes as many as 9 minor bugs and also packs some security enhancements. For full list of updates in the versions 3.0.2, read at WordPress Codex.

WordPress 3.0.2 Update

To update your blog to to the latest version of the WordPress, either download 3.0.2 version or use the automatic update feature from Dashboard > Updates menu from the administrator’s area in your blog. It is highly recommended that you download this update immediately even if you think your site hasn’t got any untrusted users.

[Download] Flash Player 10.2 Beta

Adobe Flash Player

Adobe has just released beta version of the Adobe Flash Player 10.2. The 10.2 beta version has been equipped with new features and wide range of enhancements compared to the earlier version 10.1.

New Features In Flash Player 10.2:

# Stage Video hardware acceleration: Decreases the processor usage, memory usage and enables higher frame rates, and greater pixel fidelity

# IE9 hardware accelerated rendering support: Improves graphics performance in Internet Explorer 9 by utilizing hardware rendering surfaces.

# Native custom mouse cursors: Developers can now define custom native mouse cursors which would in turn enable user experience and performance improvement.

# Full screen mode support with multiple monitors: You can now watch full-screen content on the secondary display while working on another display.

Download the Flash Player 10.2 Beta for Windows, Mac and Linux from the link added below;

Flash Player 10.2 Prerelease Build

You need to uninstall any previous versions of Flash Player before installing this beta preview build on your machine.

[Download] Free Excel 2010 Ebook From Microsoft

Microsoft has released a new eBook for Excel 2010 users who have upgraded from earlier versions like Excel 2003. Titled Rev Up to Excel 2010: Upgraders Guide to Excel 2010, the book is authored by Bill Jelen of MrExcel.com. This 250-page ebook covers every nook and corner of the latest Microsoft Excel 2010 software.

Excel 2010 ebook

The book is divided into 20 chapters.The first 11 chapters of the book deal with all the new changes in the Excel 2010 interface. Chapter 12 speaks about the new features and functions in Excel 2010. Chapters 13 through 20 are about data wrangling and business intelligence.

This book is a must and will be of great help particularly if you are upgrading from an earlier version of Excel to the latest Excel 2010.

Download Rev up to Excel 2010: Upgraders Guide to Excel ebook [16.2 MB]

[How To] Block A Contact From Sending Emails To You In Gmail

Block email from sender

Sometimes you receive dozens of mails from someone whom you don’t really know personally (spammers) or there may also be instances where in you don’t want to receive mails from your ex girlfriend / boyfriend etc. Whatever may be the reason, if you wish to block a particular sender from sending an email to you in Gmail, this guide is for you!

Fact: Before beginning the guide, let me make it clear that Gmail as such doesn’t have a default mechanism to block messages from specific addresses or domains. As described in the Gmail help section, the only way to block such emails is to create a filter to route all such unwanted email messages to Trash.

Steps:

1. Sign in to your Gmail account.

2. Open the email message that you have received from the unwanted sender.

3. Towards the right hand side, click on the small down arrow next to the “Reply” button

4. Choose “Filter messages like this” from the options menu.

Filter messages like this option inside gmail

5. The “From” field automatically gets filled by the email address of the sender from whom you received the unwanted mail. Making sure that the field has been filled, click “Next Step” to proceed to the next step.

Creating filter in Gmail

6. You will see the possible actions for the filtered messages. The options are “Skip the Inbox (Archive it)”, “Mark as read”, “Start it”, “Apply the label: ”, “Forward it to: ”, “Delete it”, “Never send it to Spam”, “Always mark it as important”, “Never mark it as important”. As you to trash all the message from that sender, the best option here would be “Delete it”.

Gmail filter advanced settings

You may also choose to apply the filter to already existing conversations as well. When all is set, click “Create Filter” button.

7. The filter is now successfully configured. Once it is created, review the filter settings from the “Filters” tab under the “Settings”.

gmail filter created

All done now! Should the above sender send you any email message in future, it automatically gets deleted without showing up in your inbox. Please note that if the same sender starts  from another email address, you need to repeat all the steps starting from the beginning. If you reach a stage where in you loose patience for all the harassment by the sender, you can always complain about it to the Cyber Police in your locality.

Get BitDefender Internet Security 2011 Free 3-Months Subscription

BitDefender logo

BitDefender Internet Security 2011 is a complete security suit for your computer from the Romanian manufacturer, BitDefender. BitDefender Internet Security 2011 provides protection against web-based hacking, spyware, spam and phishing attacks without affecting the performance of the PC.

The main features included in BitDefender Internet Security 2011:

# Antivirus

# Antispyware

# Anti-phishing

# Chat encryption

# Home network protection

# Anti-spam

# Firewall

# Parental controls

# Search advisor

The latest feature additions are Search advisor for IE, Firefox and Opera browsers that provides safety ratings for search results, quick scan, and a much improved parental and integrated support application.

BitDefender Internet Security 2011 works with Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP based computers.

BitDefender internet security 2011

You need to pay $49.95 normally if you want to purchase BitDefender Internet Security 2011. Thanks to the promotional offer, BitDefender is now offering 3 months free subscription of BitDefender Internet Security 2011 for a limited period of time for Facebook users.

Just follow this simple step to get your free 3 months subscription for BitDefender Internet Security 2011.

Steps:

Visit BitDefender Global Facebook Fan Page and click the “Like” button.

BitDefender global facebook offer

The page then reloads and gives you a download link to download the installer.

Download and install the software and use it without using any license or serial key for 90 days.

[Download] Adobe Reader X Offline Installer

Adobe Reader X

PDF file format is fast becoming ubiquitous now and so is the Adobe Reader, the ultimate PDF document reader. Adobe has recently released Adobe Reader X, the tenth version (why roman number?) of their popular PDF reading software. The latest version of the Adobe Reader is touted as a more secure version of the software. There are host of new features added to the new version of the reader. Some of the prominent new features include sticky notes, highlighter tools for sharing ideas and comments on the documents. Add in addition, Adobe has now made it easier to view other types of content like drawings, email messages, spread sheets, video etc. And when it comes to security, Adobe Reader X comes with protected mode (ensures safer viewing of PDF files) enabled by default.  So the users no longer need to worry about the document security.

Adobe Reader X (version 10.0) is now available for download in a total of 13 languages for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android platforms.

Download:

# Online Installer [Using Adobe Download Manager]

# Offline Installers: [US- English]

Windows [35.08 MB]

Mac [68.96 MB]